Opinion
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Consumers Need Education on Health Care Costs: Survey
Opinion -A survey released in late November reveals consumers know little about health care costs, but that's information they'll need if consumer-driven health care plans are to succeed at lowering costs and premiums, analysts say. -
Banning Trans Fats Is Not the Answer to Obesity
Opinion -As the debate over trans fats continues, a growing number of restaurants are joining the ranks of Jason's Deli, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's, Starbuck's, and Taco Bell in deciding to rid their menus of them. -
Drug-Price ‘Negotiation’ Would Stifle Patient Choice, Dampen Innovation
Opinion -Since the new year began, we've been dealing with all-talk-all-the-time about prescription drug prices. The idea that the government should negotiate prescription drug prices was behind a key piece of health care legislation in U.S. -
Long-Term Care Conferences Upbeat
Opinion -The 2006 LTCi National Producers Summit, billed as "the largest LTC [long-term care] insurance sales event of the year," convened in Austin, Texas on November 4. Attending were 600 of the nation's leading LTCi agents. -
Medicare Part D Doesn’t Need Direct Negotiation
Opinion -Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the new Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, pledged to remove in the first week of the congressional session the current ban on federal negotiation of drug pricing for Medicare beneficiaries. -
Mass. Requires Name Reporting for HIV Testing
Opinion -Beginning this month, Massachusetts will require doctors to report to the state health department the name of anyone testing positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), rather than using the code the agency has used for the past 20 years. -
Federal Court Tosses Vioxx Suit
Opinion -On November 22, a federal judge refused to certify a national class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of thousands of plaintiffs from various states. The suit claimed the plaintiffs had been injured by the arthritis drug Vioxx, manufactured by Merck. -
Government Should Stay out of Drug Business
Opinion -On December 2, the news provided vivid, painful proof that drug innovation is indeed a very risky business. -
New York Compact: Long-Term Care Protection or Scam?
Opinion -A few months ago, I attended an Elder Law Forum in Albany, New York intended to explain and promote a new concept of long-term care (LTC) protection called the New York State Compact for Long Term Care. -
Bias in Long-Term Care Favors Nursing Homes, Government
Opinion -Bias pervades America's long-term care (LTC) service delivery and financing system. The system is biased in favor of nursing home care--which Medicaid pays for but which most people would rather avoid. -
Disney Changes Food Marketing Approach
Opinion -Don't look for figurines from some of the latest animated kids' movies in a high-fat fast-food boxed meal in the near future. -
Savvy Consumerism Is Antidote to High Drug Costs
Opinion -Americans have long complained about the high cost of prescription drugs. But a common-sense solution is available to everyone: smart shopping. -
JAMA Article Guilty of Political Spin
Opinion -In its December 13, 2006 issue, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article on "Changes in Financial Burdens for Health Care. -
CMS Announces New Data Warehousing Initiative
Opinion -In an effort to limit waste, fraud, and abuse in American health care, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on October 11 a new data warehousing initiative intended to centralize medical information on Medicare and -
Packaging of Health Care Is Not the Problem
Opinion -"We don't bundle and price health services the way we would if the medical marketplace even remotely resembled an efficient, competitive market." So writes Dr. -
Medicare Book Informs and Amuses
Opinion -Medicare Meets Mephistopheles By David Hyman Washington, DC: Cato Institute Press, 2006 138 pages, paperback, ISBN: 1930865902, $9.95 The road to hell, we're told, is paved with good intentions. -
Restaurants Sue to Block S.F. Mandate
Opinion -The Golden Gate Restaurant Association (GGRA), a nonprofit trade group representing the restaurant industry in the San Francisco area, filed a federal lawsuit on November 8 to strike down a San Francisco city ordinance passed in July 2006. -
AHIP Recommends Universal Health Accounts
Opinion -Health care analysts say a push for a federal universal health insurance program is increasingly likely as Democrats have assumed control of Congress. -
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Healthy NY Now Offers HSA Option
Opinion -Working families of four in New York who earn less than $49,875 annually, and individuals earning less than $25,125, became eligible in January to enroll in high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and health savings accounts (HSAs) as part of the -
A Visible Hand for Market-Based FDA Reform
Opinion -A serious debate about the Food and Drug Administration's regulatory role should be gin with the common-sense principle that the power to make medical decisions rightly belongs first and foremost with patients and doctors. The U.S. -
Media Advisory: Leave Rx Benefit Alone, Experts Recommend
Opinion -(Chicago, Illinois - January 11, 2006) Democrats in Congress have pledged to rework the Medicare Prescription Drug benefit within the first 100 hours of the new session. They would do so by enabling the government to directly negotiate drug prices. -
News Media Misreport Health Survey
Opinion -If you saw ABC News or USA Today during the week of October 16, 2006, you probably got the impression Americans want government health care and oppose health savings accounts (HSAs). -
Wal-Mart Drug Discounts Increase Competition and Lower Prices
Opinion -In September 2006, Wal-Mart rolled out a plan to sell 291 generic prescription medications at $4 for a 30-day supply at selected pharmacies in Florida. At the same time, it announced plans to expand the program to 14 additional states.
